Review: Thunder at Sheffield Arena

Roy Goodall

Published:18:26Wednesday 09 March 2016

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At inception, bands have several choices as to which road to travel on, how they should sound and what they choose to be known as.

British gang Thunder, a name which some may have initially thought was not best suited, have defied all doubters and ploughed on, knowing that in the live arena they hold no fears, as this small trek across our land proved.

They played at Sheffield Arena, sharing the bill with Terrorvision and King King., the latter opening the show and receiving warm applause from the full seats.

Having Bradford boys Terrorvision as main support was a master stroke as this lot delivered with fire, energy and great catchy tunes.

All the best suff was there and front man Tony Wright was the epitome of super-fitness. He never stopped, filling the sage from every angle and culminating with a headstand to close their set.

Thunder struck the stage to a defining welcome and opened with newer tunes from their latest long-player Wonder Days. In total, five were aired which I felt was good planning as some bands do pander to the past. Not that Thunder ignored this, bringing in Resurrection Day, River of Pain and the brilliant Back Street Symphony, complete with mass audience participation.

Opting to drop the pace again wasn’t the smartest of moves though as once you have your audience up, you need to keep them up. That said, Love Walked In worked as did the ever popular Love You More Than Rock And Roll, both showcasing vocalist

Danny Bowes at his best.

In fact they were all at their best, especially recently recovered Ben Mathews, now complete with neatly trimmed hair style.

With the encore featuring Serpentine and of course Dirty Love the London boys bid us good night as some of us made our way to the ‘After Show’ party.

I fully admit to being slightly biased towards British rock, and why shouldn’t I?

The night fully affirmed my belief that if you work hard and stick at it, write some decent tunes and perform to the best of your abilities without being overly vulgar to your paymasters, luck will weather through.